The present invention relates to compositions for application to and care of human hair. More particularly, it relates to improved compositions for conditioning hair.
Products which improve the appearance, feel, and manageability of hair have gained increasing acceptance and popularity with consumers. The utility of such compositions is particularly important with the use of such hair treatments as permanent waving, dyeing, teasing, and bleaching. The physical condition of hair can also be affected by atmospheric conditions, such as sunlight, which may cause photo-catalyzed oxidation. These factors may result in hair with poor texture, which is difficult to manage and comb, whether wet or dry.
Accordingly, compositions which "condition" hair generally improve the manageability, appearance and feel of hair, as by reducing dry static and increasing the ease of combing both wet and dry hair. Such conditioning products are well known. Some are "rinse-type" products which are applied and rinsed off the hair, while others are "deep conditioners" which are allowed to remain on the hair for extended periods of time. Many conditioning products contain long chain quaternary ammonium compounds combined with fatty materials, such as fatty alcohols. Such compositions are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,155,591, Hilfer, issued Nov. 3, 1964 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,824, Villamarin, et al., issued May 26, 1981. While such products have particularly good cosmetic in-use and rheologic characteristics, they may leave the hair greasy or oily, and subject to resoiling with dirt and sebum. These undesirable characteristics are, unfortunately, related to the conditioning benefit, since such products (as they are known in the art) inherently lead to deposition of both vehicle and conditioning active materials on the hair.
A variety of compositions have been developed which attempt to provide good conditioning benefits while maintaining acceptable cosmetic in-use and rheologic characteristics. In particular, volatile silicone oils are well known for use in conditioning products. For example, British Patent Specification 1,598,567, Lewis, et al., published Sep. 23, 1981, discloses hair conditioners containing volatile silicones and certain surfactants. (An essential feature of these compositions is their freedom from fatty materials and quaternary ammonium compounds.) British Patent Specification 999,222, published Jul. 21, 1965, discloses organosilicone polymers in water-alcohol mixtures for use as hair conditioners. U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,825, Bolich, et al., issued Feb. 22, 1983, discloses conditioners containing hydrocarbon or silicone conditioning agents, certain nonionic water-soluble thickening agents, and a cationic conditioning agent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,090, Bolich, issued Jun. 7, 1983, discloses conditioning compositions containing volatile hydrocarbon or silicone conditioning agents and certain polymeric thickening agents. U,K, Patent Application 2,068,659, Abe, published Jul. 15, 1981, discloses conditioning hair rinse compositions comprising quaternary ammonium salts, silicone materials, and propylene glycol.
It has now been discovered that hair conditioning formulations containing a dimethicone copolyol and a silicone conditioning agent, in a gel vehicle consisting of a lipid material and a cationic surfactant, have improved hair care benefits while maintaining excellent in-use characteristics. In particular, such compositions exhibit lower resoiling of hair after use than similar compositions that do not contain the dimethicone copolyol. Thus, such products provide excellent conditioning benefits with low resoiling, while maintaining preferred theology,